Equity Group Investments is the apex of financier Sam Zell's pyramid of business holdings. The Chicago-based private investment group controls a multi-billion dollar mix of private and public businesses around the world. Zell's real estate portfolio makes him one of the US's largest owners of apartments (Equity Residential) and manufactured homes (Equity LifeStyle Properties). Zell also owns tronc, one of the nation's top newspaper publishers with titles including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Additionally, the group invests in the energy, transportation, and communications industries. Zell controls Equity Group Investments, which he co-founded in 1968.